I picked up a Radio Shack outdoor Scanner/Ham Discone Antenna (20-043) today at a yard sale still in the bag for $25.00 ( It is a sickness, I cant help myself).

Anyway, I really was only going to grab it for my scanner, and then read the instructions that said I could use this for 50,144,220,440,900, and 1396 MHZ. I have my 144/220/440 already taken care of, but I dont have 6M ( Really never had a need for it) Anyway....

Anyone else use one of these? (Is it worth the trouble?), the Eham review was not that bad, and I could just grab an antenna switch,and put this on my 857D. Also will my Z100 tune this thing, or should I go find a analizer or SWR meter now?

Thanks..

IIRC the Radio Shack discones are good down to the bottom of the aviation band (108MHz). 1/4 wave of the sloping elements. As long as the feedpoint is correctly designed discones are good up to about 10x the low frequency cut off.

Below that you'll have a single frequency by using the threaded stud at the top and connecting a 1/4 wave whip. For 6m or 10m coverage you'd have to set up that whip and tune it to frequency. It will not be broadbanded at the lower freq. If all you're using this for is 6m you'll be better off to get or build a 6m antenna.

Trying to use a tuner at a lower (HF) frequency will not provide good results, there's just not a lot there to try to tune. Now if you find a CB 5/8 wave antenna for cheap or free that's something you could use on a variety of HF bands with a tuner and have reasonable results.